2018 AFC U-16 Championship qualification


The 2018 AFC U-16 Championship qualification was an international men's under-16 football competition which decides the participating teams of the 2018 AFC U-16 Championship.
A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Malaysia who qualified automatically as hosts.

Draw

Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 45 teams entered the competition. The final tournament hosts Malaysia also entered in qualification despite having automatically qualified for the final tournament.
The draw was held on 21 April 2017, 15:00 MYT, at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 45 teams were drawn into ten groups: five groups of five teams and five groups of four teams. For the draw, teams were divided into two zones:
The teams were seeded in each zone according to their performance in the 2016 AFC U-16 Championship final tournament and qualification. The following restrictions were also applied:
Pot [|1]Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4Pot 5
West Zone
East Zone

;Notes
West Zone
East ZoneNone

Player eligibility

Players born on or after 1 January 2002 are eligible to compete in the tournament.

Format

In each group, teams play each other once at a centralised venue. The ten group winners and the five best runners-up qualify for the final tournament. If the final tournament hosts Malaysia win their group or are among the five best runners-up, the sixth best runner-up also qualifies for the final tournament.

Tiebreakers

Teams are ranked according to points, and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings :
  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
  8. Disciplinary points ;
  9. Drawing of lots.

    Groups

The matches were played between 16–29 September 2017.

Group A



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Group B



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Group C



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Group D



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Group E



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Group F



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Group G



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Group H



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Group I



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Group J



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Ranking of second-placed teams

Due to groups having different number of teams and the withdrawal of United Arab Emirates from Group E, the results against the fifth and fourth-placed teams in five and four-team groups are not considered for this ranking.

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.
TeamQualified asQualified onPrevious appearances in AFC U-16 Championship1
4
2
2
10
9
4
10
5
13
5
14
7
9
10
6
0

Goalscorers

;10 goals
;8 goals
;7 goals
;6 goals
;5 goals
;4 goals
;3 goals
;2 goals
;1 goal
;2 own goals
;1 own goal